Young Wolves Players About to Take Major Leap Forward

[Lipoli390]

We've all be focused mainly on the acquisition of Rudy Gobert and rounding out the roster with some veterans as the Wolves move into more of a win-now mode. But I think it's worth discussing the organic improvement we were counting on before the Gobert deal. One of the positives about the Gobert deal from a Wolves perspective is that the Wolves kept most their best young high-upside players - Edwards, McDaniels, Nowell and Naz Reid - while only losing Vando and Bolmaro.

So the question for discussion is how much improvement we need or expect to see from our four still very young vets listed above?

I'm particularly interested in thoughts on Naz Reid. Many of us (myself included) have pretty much written him off. I think I included him in almost every hypothetical trade scenario I posted this summer so far. :). But he's only played 3 years in the League on limited minutes and hasn't even turned 23 year old yet. He has some really nice offensive skills -- footwork, touch around the basket, etc. While he's been pretty bad defensively and on the boards, he's shown himself to be a pretty good rim protector. He seems like a really serious and determined young player. I could see him taking a huge leap as a player next season with an improved perimeter shot (which is already pretty good), even more impressive inside scoring, better rebounding and better defense. He's plenty long and strong, is highly coordinated with nice athleticism and he has quick feet.

[Monster]

I've often thought Naz could become a Montrez Harrell type player in the league. Starter? Not quite but he became a really valuable player. Just in terms of the player aside from salary or off the court stuff who wouldn't want to have Harrell on this roster? Harrell wasn't a very good rebounder earlier in his career but I proved that area of his game later. Naz is longer and has a 3 point shot. I'm not sure what kind of defender Harrell was after his rookie season where he had turned 23. Had Naz stayed in college he would be graduating now. Sure this can be a tired thing to say he is young blah blah blah but it's still a reality that he is young and often we have seen bigs take a while before they figure it out. As it is Naz has some worthwhile skills the problem most of us saw is that the roster around him wasn't a good fit for them. Will that have changed now with Gobert and Kyle Anderson being added? Where does he even fit in terms of playing time etc? I do think there is some upside still to Naz. He has made some strides to become a better player over the 3 years he has been in the league. He has increased his block rate every year. After struggling early in the season his shot making got back on track for the most part. He certainly wasn't alone in struggling early on that end.

If Naz got traded tomorrow it wouldn't surprise me. I also think that while I believe he could be a reasonably valuable rotation player and is young I don't think his trade value is particularly high because he is an expiring deal and some of the teams that might want him will be the same teams that can offer him a contract next summer because they have cap space etc. I think at this point he is worth more to the Wolves than what they can get in a deal.

[WallyBall]

Naz has some game, and as you have mentioned he's young
He's become more explosive from when he first entered the league and had a max vert of 29 cm
He seems like a hard worker and seems to want to get better
At this point in his career you need to scheme around him due to his limitations
He needs that shot to fall more reliably to really take the next step
Or develop some post up game, but I'm not holding my breath on that front
I don't understand how he's not better a defense, he has quick feet, awareness issue?
And he just NEEDS to rebound better
I'd keep him on the team as a deep reserve
I'm just happy that all of the talent we have added makes it much less important for him to pan out
If he does, great
Ohh how the times have changed!

[thedoper]

Does Naz know how big he is? Been a wolves theme in the past going back to KG. Naz should be cross training Jiu jitsu and Judo to learn some core strength.

[Monster]

Naz has some game, and as you have mentioned he's young
He's become more explosive from when he first entered the league and had a max vert of 29 cm
He seems like a hard worker and seems to want to get better
At this point in his career you need to scheme around him due to his limitations
He needs that shot to fall more reliably to really take the next step
Or develop some post up game, but I'm not holding my breath on that front
I don't understand how he's not better a defense, he has quick feet, awareness issue?
And he just NEEDS to rebound better
I'd keep him on the team as a deep reserve
I'm just happy that all of the talent we have added makes it much less important for him to pan out
If he does, great
Ohh how the times have changed!

Naz has a post game but I think he still has some lack of lift when he comes off his moves. If he has a runway he can get up. A little more touch or finishing other ways to finish on shots in the paint would make him even more effective and he is already a reasonably good offensive player. He also handles the ball pretty well and does a pretty good job in the screen game. He is a pretty good passer too. Offensively there really isn't anything he sucks at or flat out can't do. He also isn't amazing at anything but players have to at least pay attention to him on the perimeter and he absolutely can attack close outs.

Earlier this evening I watched some more highlights/possessions of him. He really does move pretty well. I think he does foul too much but he also seems to not get the benefit of of the doubt on calls either. One of the videos I watched was against Utah. There was some good and bad in that one and there were a number of plays he was working hard to box out Gobert. He scored on Gobert a couple times and a couple times Gobert made him look like a silly child. It will be interesting to see if Gobert might be a good guy for him to be around to learn how to play defense as a big. I think there will be games where Naz might be able to get in some good minutes on teams that really don't play anyone big.

[Monster]

Does Naz know how big he is? Been a wolves theme in the past going back to KG. Naz should be cross training Jiu jitsu and Judo to learn some core strength.

Yep this is a good point and the core strength is something Finch has said about the Wolves bigs too including Baz. Reid really has worked hard on his body but I don't think he has really learned how to use it. I think offensively he has a lot of skills and his length combined with moving well is good for him but yeah he just doesn't play strong. Maybe he never will.

[WallyBall]

Naz has some game, and as you have mentioned he's young
He's become more explosive from when he first entered the league and had a max vert of 29 cm
He seems like a hard worker and seems to want to get better
At this point in his career you need to scheme around him due to his limitations
He needs that shot to fall more reliably to really take the next step
Or develop some post up game, but I'm not holding my breath on that front
I don't understand how he's not better a defense, he has quick feet, awareness issue?
And he just NEEDS to rebound better
I'd keep him on the team as a deep reserve
I'm just happy that all of the talent we have added makes it much less important for him to pan out
If he does, great
Ohh how the times have changed!

Naz has a post game but I think he still has some lack of lift when he comes off his moves. If he has a runway he can get up. A little more touch or finishing other ways to finish on shots in the paint would make him even more effective and he is already a reasonably good offensive player. He also handles the ball pretty well and does a pretty good job in the screen game. He is a pretty good passer too. Offensively there really isn't anything he sucks at or flat out can't do. He also isn't amazing at anything but players have to at least pay attention to him on the perimeter and he absolutely can attack close outs.

Earlier this evening I watched some more highlights/possessions of him. He really does move pretty well. I think he does foul too much but he also seems to not get the benefit of of the doubt on calls either. One of the videos I watched was against Utah. There was some good and bad in that one and there were a number of plays he was working hard to box out Gobert. He scored on Gobert a couple times and a couple times Gobert made him look like a silly child. It will be interesting to see if Gobert might be a good guy for him to be around to learn how to play defense as a big. I think there will be games where Naz might be able to get in some good minutes on teams that really don't play anyone big.

Good points monster! Your right he does have that little bunny lay up near the rim that always seems to go in when he has his back to the basket. For an undrafted free agent, his play is all gravy. And yes please to the Gobert effect.

[FNG]

Naz can be a little maddening at times, but overall I have to say I don't mind him at all being our backup center. His per 36 stats last year were 18.9/8.9/2.1 with 2.1 blocks with a TS% of 59%. His 3-point shot isn't pretty, but he makes over 34% of them (very close to our starting PG) on almost 5 attempts per 36...defenses have to respect him out there. I appreciate his positive net rating on Basketball Reference his past two seasons. I like the chemistry he has when he is out there with Russell...DLo took a nice step forward last season in his ability to make clever pocket passes to Reid. And as others say, he is still young with likely some upside. Many teams have to worry when their starting center goes to the bench. I don't worry too much about Naz.

As for other players, Lip, I agree that a major leap forward for our young players could make this team truly special. We all love what Jaden brings defensively and note his success on corner threes. He's not going to attract much attention from defenses, so he if can make over 36% of his threes and continue to play excellent defense without fouling, he will help us a lot.

And then there's Nowell. The improvement he made last season on offense was dramatic...I think he can be a very good replacement off the bench for Beasley. And while his defense has been as poor as Malik's (and cost him some playing time), he is young and can improve on D. He will be a terrific 6th man if he can continue to progress on offense and just be average on defense.

Good thread, Lip. We know what Rudy will bring, and we're mostly confident in what KAT will bring in a new role. And the sky seems to be the limit for Ant. What this team's ceiling might be will depend a lot on the trajectory of our young 20's guys...and the potential is clearly there.

[Q-is-here]

Does Naz know how big he is? Been a wolves theme in the past going back to KG. Naz should be cross training Jiu jitsu and Judo to learn some core strength.

It amazes me to no end how a guy like Kevon Looney becomes this stout, hard-nosed positional defender that helps Golden State win a ring and Naz Reid gets worked like a rag doll on the interior. Naz Reid is like an inch taller and 15-20 lbs. heavier than Looney. So WTF???

Reid definitely has talent, but he has to solve for his interior defensive woes, including rebounding.

[Lipoli390]

Does Naz know how big he is? Been a wolves theme in the past going back to KG. Naz should be cross training Jiu jitsu and Judo to learn some core strength.

It amazes me to no end how a guy like Kevon Looney becomes this stout, hard-nosed positional defender that helps Golden State win a ring and Naz Reid gets worked like a rag doll on the interior. Naz Reid is like an inch taller and 15-20 lbs. heavier than Looney. So WTF???

Reid definitely has talent, but he has to solve for his interior defensive woes, including rebounding.

Yes, it's maddening. Naz should be a good defender with his size and quick feet. But he's been a consistently bad, really bad, defender. Beasley should have been at least a decent defender with his tenacity and athleticism, but he obviously wasn't. Some players just don't see to have it defensively and there's no obvious reason why. I opened this thread with the suggestion that he could take a huge leap forward next season. I could certainly see him making every further strides offensively. But I wouldn't bet on him becoming a good defender and I hope I'm wrong about that.